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Thursday, 31 December 2009

It's been another busy and exciting year for me, with over 40 quilts made! I entered two in the South Australian Quilt Guild's Festival of Quilts.

I've had another quilt published and several more commissioned to magazines, including the one I'm about to start on next. I'm in the middle of answering a myriad of questions for a profile due out sometime next year.

I participated in several swaps, and got such great feedback on my Out of Season that it finally prompted me to stat an Etsy shop. Another winter tree, Winter Harvest was my first sale! A pattern for my tree series is in the pipelines. I've also had more commissioned work, including my first quilting-only job.

I even took a couple of classes, and had a great long weekend when Adds joined me for one of them!

My quilting is starting to take new directions. While I still do a lot of foundation-piecing, I've discovered applique. And most importantly, I'm getting more adventurous with free-motion quilting.

I got to visit the Australiasian Quilting Convention in Melbourne, bought a new quilting machine, and have added significantly to my fabric and thread stashes. It's been a good year.

Thank you to everyone for visiting my blog and for all the helpful and supportive comments; you've been a big part of my year. I hope to hear from you all again in 2010! I already have a long to do list!

Here is my 2009 in quilts; links to posts about almost all of these are on the right ----->;

Star of Spring - small wallhanging made for Joy as part of my PIF commitments:

Sweetness - baby's play quilt given to some close friends for their first baby; Juliet:

Eleanor's fairies - a fun wallhanging made for James' best friend Ella's 3rd brithday, where I started getting creative with FMQing:

Aglow - small wallhanging made for Esther as my 10,000th blog visitor (hard to believe I've had over 30,000 now!):

Fairy Dancing - bed quilt made for my niece Zoe's 2nd birthday:

Eleanor's Teddy Quilt - exactly as the name says; and still without the label attached!:

Drifting - My contribution to the fifth round of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap; a monochromatic challenge, in which the recipient selected their favourite season (Tami chose Spring) and colours (blue or green). Decorated with dimensional appliqued blossoms and hot-fix swarovski crystals:

Rory's Rockets - Commissioned single bed quilt for a gorgeous little boy's first birthday, featuring Prints Charming fabric, and to be published in Australian Patchwork and Quilting Vol 18 No 12 due out around March 2010. Huge thanks to Leia for letting the magazine borrow it for photography!:

Constellation Consternation - Single bed quilt I made and donated to the Bushfire Quilts Project (along with a handful of individual maverick star blocks) instigated by Tia and which made an (albeit almost microscopic ;) ) appearance in Quiltmania:

Tropical Ice - Commissioned baby's play quilt:

Breakfast on the Beach - Made for the brith of my second niece, Samantha:

Mimicking the Cherry Thief - Made for my recipient in DQS6 and named after the William Morris Strawberry Thief design:

Happiness - Baby's play quilt made for some close friends' second child (and first son), using maverick stars made entirely from my bright scraps and quilted allover in a time-consuming but effective shell pattern:

Table runner made and sent to Europe (Slovenia?) as part of my PIF commitments, using scraps:

A second table runner made and sent to the US as part of my PIF commintments, using more scraps:

Sing a Rainbow - baby's play quilt for a friend's second son, using more of the bright log cabin blocks I made ages ago after the EB swap; the reverse layout to the last quilt I made with these blocks:

Breaking Surf - baby's play quilt for the birth of my long-time friend Lee-Tal's first child, Yonatan, in Israel. I absolutely loved FMQing the feathers on this:

Andamooka - wallhanging inspired by opals (though the final quilt doesn't look that opaline) using a block I designed and given as part of my PIF commitments:

Beachside Blossom - Table runner made as a very belated birthday present for my lovely mother-in-law using one of my favourite ombre fabrics:

Mimicry - another version of my stylised lyrebird made for Sandi Henderson, featuring her Farmer's Market cherries.

Milky Way - blue maverick stars to make a quick baby's play quilt for a friend's baby girl:

Brush & Hush - appliqued wallhanging entered in the Festival of Quilts, my first proper attempt at McTavishing (Emming!) and my first quilt on the new machine, which was quite a challenge at this point; named after the cats in"The Color Kittens":

Obsession - appliqued wallhanging approximately 24in square made so I could do more Emming, and currently for sale in my Etsy shop:

Tendrils - Baby's play quilt for my cousin's second child, Ebony (I was still getting frustrated getting acquianted with my machine, or it would have been more heavily quilted):

Lilac Soda - Made in the same basic design and Breaking Surf, so that I could feather the white background again! To be published in Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol 19 No 2 due out around April 2010:

Under the Southern Cross - more maverick stars for yet another baby:

Starburst - approximately 50in square and made using my complicated redraft of the Palm block and entered in the Festival of Quilts:

Out of Season - mini wallhnaging made for my partner in DQS7 and heavily 'Emmed'; inspired by skiing at Falls Creek and the main kick-start to my Etsy shop:

Winter Harvest - a second version (most unlike me) of the quilt above; initially for me, but became my first Etsy sale just before Christmas!

Hidden Star is finished (unless I change my mind again and decide I will quilt the narrow border); I did the handsewing today. The photos were taken quickly inside, since I'm not going outside to do it properly in 41-degree heat!

Wednesday, 30 December 2009

I've finished quilting this one - apart from the narrow (~1in) border which I plan to do after the binding, so it looks more even.

There are 25 blocks like this, and each one is quilted the same. Above without flash (showing the quiting better) below with flash.

These next 2 photos show quilting detail where blocks of different colouring meet:

And this is the photography set-up I use at night to show the quilting; I use the night portrait setting, a sidelight rather than flash, and the tripod to hold it all steady. Pretend the camera is actually on the tripod; obviously I had to move it to take this!

My parents are buying me a new camera for Christmas, and I've been researching. I'd love a DSLR, but I am always using the flip-out vari-angle screen on my camera, and I think it's a non-negotiable aspect, which pretty much limits me to the new version of my current (mid 2005 Canon S2 IS)) camera; the Canon SX1 IS. I've read several reviews and been into a camera shop to play with it (but since it didn't have batteries in it, I didn't really get much benefit from that and will be trying another shop in the next few days!) but would love to hear from anyone who has one - or even a recent similar model.

Partly I just want sharper images and a faster setup, but I really want to get photos of my quilts which are sharp at both the centre and the binding, which I just haven't been able to achieve (I have my quilts totally flat on a plain wall in the shade, and do get a fair distance back - as far as practical - have the camera centred and straight and have played with different f-stops and other settings).

Thursday, 24 December 2009

While Simon was away with James and Eleanor, I decorated the tree. We have a Christmas tree farm only a few kilometres from home, and it never feels like Chiristmas until I can smell the pine needles. I've finally (almost) got enough baubles an snowflakes in blue and aqua and silver to do a one-colour tree. (Every year I start with these colours, but have always ended up adding in the reds, greens and golds as well!) I figure by next year there'll be no way to stop James helping - although he was quite happy for me to do it as a surprise this time. I haven't put the presents underneath yet, as they would have no chance with James and Eleanor - let alone Shadow and Cocoa. The fairy lights are up though, as is my amazing Christmas quilt from Margaret.

About Me

I am 40, married to Simon, and mummy to James (12) and Eleanor (11). I design all my own quilts, have produced several patterns and have been regular contributor to Australian quilting magazines. My favourite part of the process is the quilting (on a Bernina 820), but I enjoy every bit of it. Please drop in and say hello; each and every comment is appreciated and I'm happy to answer your questions, although I quilt a little less frequently these days.